Rural Vietnamese women’s contribution to sustainable development through photos

Delegates cutting ribbon to open the exhibition The photos will be displayed from October 10, and the month-long exhibition marks the continuation of the competition held by UN Women with the support of the Australian and Canadian Embassies to recognize and promote the contribution of rural Vietnamese women to the sustainable development of Vietnam. The photographs submitted highlight the contestants’ recognition of the significant contributions made by rural women to the prosperity of their communities across many areas, including technology, sustainable agriculture, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, entrepreneurship, leadership and decision making, and the promotion of substantive equality between women and men in rural Vietnam. “Even in the absence of words, photographs can portray reality in a manner that is honest, eye opening, thought provoking and reflective, while still being entertaining and easily understood. We believe that photography is a powerful tool to raise awareness and to trigger positive development in society. Looking at all of the entries, we see positive changes regarding the empowerment of rural Vietnamese women,” said Elisa Fernandez, UN Women Head of Office in Vietnam. Ms. Kellie Raab, First Secretary of the Australian Embassy in Vietnam briefing delegates on the exhibition According to a report from Vietnam’s General Statistics Office in 2015, women constitute a significant percentage of the agricultural workforce in VietnNam. In some rural areas, up to 63.4% of working women are in agriculture compared to 57.5% of working men. Rural women make substantial contributions to Vietnam’s economic growth. However, rural women… [Read full story]